Geotechnical, Water and Environmental Engineering Research

Mission

It aims to develop innovative experimental, computational and design methods and processes that will support the analysis, design and operation of sustainable projects in these areas and/or the intersection of these areas.

Research Funding

The group is currently receiving ARC and industry research funding in the following research areas:

In groundwater and soil contamination research, he has developed a number of quasi-analytical, finite element and boundary element models of contaminant migration in porous and fractured porous media based on the advection-dispersion governing equation. In poromechanics, he has dealt with research problems dealing with consolidation, sedimentation-consolidation of soft soils, tunnel closure, vibrations of piles and foundations embedded in porous media. His research contributions in this area are primarily on the theoretical or computational side of continuum mechanics, in terms of formulation of the theoretical governing equations from first principle conservation laws, constitutive relations and theory of mixtures, and development of analytical, semi-analytical and numerical finite element solution techniques. He has researched the characterisation and remediation of geomaterials, namely: EPS geofoam, red mud, high power ultrasound remediation of contaminated soils and characterisation of sites using microtremor measurements. In this area of research, his contributions are primarily in relation to laboratory (triaxial, true triaxial, consolidation, high power ultrasonics, etc), and field experimental work, with a significant computational component. He regularly reviews for Computers and Geotechnics, International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, International Journal of Geomechanics, Geotextiles and Geomembranes. He has received research funding from the Australian Research Council, the NSW Environmental Trust, CSIRO Flagship and industry partners.

Pinto, U., Maheshwari, B., Shrestha, S. and Morris, C. (2012), 'Understanding the meaning of river health for a community: perspectives from the peri-urban region of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, Australia', Water Policy, 18.

Pinto, U., Maheshwari, B., Shrestha, S. and Morris, C. (2012), 'Understanding the meaning of river health for a community : perspectives from the peri-urban region of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, Australia', Water Policy, 18.

The major thrust of Sathaa's research is to supply safe drinking water to customers through improvement of biostability (reduction of bacterial regrowth) while reducing disinfection by-products. Disinfectants studied are chlorine and chrloramine. Treatments investigated include membrane filtration, membrane bioreactor, coagulation/flocculation, biologically activated carbon, granular activated carbon and MIEX. Further, he ventures into other areas of distribution systems such as discoloured water management and corrosion. In addition, he is working on Microbial Electrolysis cells to treat waste water.

Sarker, D. and Sathasivan, A. (2011), 'Effect of Temperature on Onset of Nitrification in Chloraminated System', Desalination and Water Treatment, 5.

Kohapei, J., Sathasivan, A. and Aboutalebi, H. (2011), 'Evaluation of second order and parallel second order approaches to model temperature variation in chlorine decay modelling ', Desalination and Water Treatment, 7.

Kohapei, J., Sathasivan, A. and Aboutalebi, H. (2011), 'Effectiveness of parallel second order model over second and first order models', Desalination and Water Treatment, 8.
Al-Ithari, A., Sathasivan, A., Ahmed, R., Vithularu, H., Zhan, W. and Ahmed, M. (2011), 'Superiority of date seed ash as an adsorbent over other ashes and ferric chloride in removing boron from seawater ', Desalination and Water Treatment, 5.

Tal, T., Sathasivan, A. and Bal Krishna, K. (2011), 'Effect of Different Disinfectants on Grey Water Quality during Storage', Journal of Water Sustainability, 12.

Samanthika completed her PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1999 and she has been involved in geotechnical rngineering research for more than 10 years. She has experience in computational geomechanics within specific areas of pile driving dynamics, earthquake engineering, pile supported embankments and deep cement mixed column improved ground. She has worked as a reviewer for many geotechnical engineering journals including the International Journal of Geomechanics (ASCE), Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (ASCE), Computers and Geotechnics and Journal of Engineering Mechanics (ASCE) and as an external examiner for PhD students from other Australian universities. She joined the School of Engineering at UWS in 2009 as a senior lecturer. In 2007, she received the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for research carried out in the design of pile foundations in seismically active regions jointly with Professor Harry Poulos. Currently she supervises six PhD students jointly with A/Prof Chin Leo.

Dr Ataur Rahman obtained his PhD degree in Hydrology in 1997 from Monash University where he was supervised by Professor R. Mein, Professor E. Laurenson, Dr B. Bates and Mr E. Weinmann. He worked as a research fellow at CRC for Catchment Hydrology (Monash University) and the Queensland University of Technology, and as a statistical hydrologist in Sinclair Knight Merz before joining to UWS in 2002. He is now working as a senior lecturer at UWS. He received the G. N. Alexander Medal from Engineers Australia in 2002 for a research paper on loss modelling. He spent his sabbatical leave at the University of Newcastle and Cornell University in 2010 where he worked with Professor G. Kuczera and Professor J. Stedinger. He is acting as Project 5 (Regional flood methods) Leader in the Australian Rainfall and Runoff Revision which has received funding of over $4 million from Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. He has contributed significantly to ARR Project 1 Development of IFD information across Australia and ARR Project 6 Loss models for catchment simulation. He has published over 190 refereed papers and technical reports in various fields of water and environmental engineering. He is currently acting as principal supervisor of 6 PhD students. He is a regular reviewer of a number of leading international journals in Water Engineering such as Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology and Hydrological Processes. His research interests include design flood estimation, rainfall estimation, stochastic simulation and risk assessment, impact of climate change on river flow and water sensitive urban design.

Dharma has a strong background in civil and environmental engineering. He has successfully managed several projects related to design, construction and operation of water and wastewater treatment plants. He has widely published in the area of onsite/decentralised wastewater treatment systems. In addition, he has worked with several industries such as mining, dairy and manufacturing, to find appropriate solutions to dispose/ reuse their wastewater. He is also working in the area urban water cycle management. One project under this category is "Determination of long term water demand, taking into account the climate change impacts". Recently, risk assessment and management of various sustainable options for managing natural resources is gaining a lot of importance. Currently, Dharma is involved in developing risk assessment framework for managing the risks associated with the use of recycled water for irrigation. Dharma has established strong collaboration with local industries such as Dairy Australia, Sydney Water and the Sydney Catchment Authority. Further, he has established good collaboration with international institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Karnatka State Council for Science and Technology, India. He is a recipient of a Senior Research Fellowship from the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Selected Publications:

Hagare, P., Hagare, D., Modessa, A., Quennelle, W. and Koizumi-Smith, B. (2012). Effect of rebate scheme and water restrictions on rainwater tank uptake rate and their impact on water demand. Water Journal of the Australian Water Association, 39(7), 2012, pp87-92. ISSN 0310-0367.

Dr Ming Zhao joined the Western Sydney University as a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering in 2011. He was awarded his PhD degree at the State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China in 2003. Between 2005 and 2011, he worked in the School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Western Australia as a research associate and then a research assistant professor. Dr Zhao's research interests include fluid-structure interaction, local scour around subsea structures, computational fluid mechanics (CFD), etc. Most of his research work is related to the fluid-soil-structure or fluid-structure interaction in the offshore oil and gas engineering. Ming was awarded three ARC discovery grants as a chief investigator and has published 45 refereed papers in international journals and 32 in international conferences. He is a regular reviewer for a number of international journals including "Coastal Engineering", "Ocean Engineering", etc.